Replicable Item-Cluster Subcomponents in the NEO Five-Factor Inventory

Abstract

The popular NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R) has a short form—the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI)—that taps the five broad factors with fidelity and reliability. However, conventional scoring of this short form does not provide scores on more specific aspects of the broad-bandwidth factors. In this study, 13 item clusters were found to replicate across halves of a sample of self-descriptions by adults (N = 732). Thirteen factor-analytically derived scales were developed for the item clusters. The scales demonstrated reliability and factor structure comparable to that of the 30 facet scales of the NEO-PI-R. Correlation and multiple regression analyses showed that the content coverage of the 13 scales has high overlap with that of the NEO-PI-R facet scales, but that representation of some facet scales, but that representation of some facet scales is more moderate. Archival and existing data involving the NEO-FFI can be easily rescored for these 13 subcomponents, increasing the researcher's gain of information from this convenient personality inventory.